Once again, the first team to score was the team that ended up losing the game. I think that if I was a coach, I would tell my team "don't score in the first half unless the other team scores first."

The Better Team Was... Belgium. They took a long time to warm up, but then they took off, keeping possession 66% of the time and taking 17 shots to Algeria's 3. The substitutions made all the difference here.

The Better Team Was... Dare I say it? A draw. On paper, Brazil should have mopped the floor with Mexico. In practice, Mexico proved to be a scrappy opponent which made Neymar & co. work for every opportunity. This is definitely not the same Mexico that struggled so much in CONCACAF qualifying. Could Herrera have made that much of a difference?

Man of the Match: Guillermo Ochoa (MEX) with some truly world-class goalkeeping.

Finally, we get to see Russia play. I have to say I'm looking forward to watching them in action.

The Better Team Was... Neither team really impressed me. Both had some shots on goal, and shared possession equally. I did think Russia came out better in the second half, partly due to their substitutes.

Man of the Match: Aleksandr Kerzhakov (RUS) for the tying goal which saved goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev the indignity of handing the South Koreans the win.

After seeing all 32 teams play, I have to say that if things continue in this fashion, we're likely to see a Netherlands-Germany final. I was impressed by the CONCACAF teams, particularly Mexico and Costa Rica, and decidedly unimpressed by Uruguay and Spain. Italy and France seem to have completely forgotten their 2010 disasters, while Argentina and Brazil seem competent but worrying.

I don't think the United States will win any more games, but you never know. Fingers crossed!

Been on the road and missed a lot... But finally caught at least the US-Ghana match.

Neither side impressed me all that much with their overall setups for offense. Both wasted some corners pretty well, too... The Chinese commentary even kept saying it was a slow-moving game.

The burst attacks were fairly good. I did like how the US at least used the wings -- both sides were actually pretty good at switching the ball around. Ghana would have been dangerous if they could have brought the shots to the moon a bit lower. Howard did very well in goal, especially with charging out at difficult moments in the first half. And Boye, for some reason, just had a horrible day. He looked just misplaced (though maybe just unfortunate) in so many important moments.

I thought Ghana deserved a couple obstruction calls against it, though that is how they play... Happy more people didn't get hugely injured than apparent, thinking of the last times I've seen them at World Cup. Dempsey was just fuming a couple times at how much arm and body he was playing against.

Technically I doubt the US team will do that well if it gets to the big Euro competitors, but their defense did pretty well at least for the day and it was all fun to watch.